Bay Area Super Bowl bid is top secret, but don’t worry about the power

Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews (left) and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee pal around at the under-construction 49er's stadium in Silicon Valley. (Susana Bates / special to The Chronicle)

Here’s one thing going for the Bay Area as it tries to host a Super Bowl in 2016 or 2017: It won’t have to worry about the power going out in the middle of the game — as long as it’s played during the day.

The 49ers’ stadium under construction in Santa Clara will have “enough solar panels for our 10 home games to be powered by the sun,” team President Jed York said Wednesday as he led mayors from San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara on a tour of the venue that would host the championship game if the San Francisco-led effort is successful.

“We’ll be completely net neutral on the grid for our homes games,” York said. “That’s something nobody else can say in the world of sporting events.”

And that’s what passed for news at a press event Wednesday that was all about optics and messaging but short on substance. It was designed to showcase a unified front as the Bay Area tries to secure only its second Super Bowl, and first since 1985, when Super Bowl XIX was played in Stanford Stadium after a week of parties and events in San Francisco.

City officials are hoping for something similar this time around, with the city hosting the lion’s share of economy-boosting visitors, corporate parties and related activities. A 2010 joint Beacon Economics and Bay Area Council Economic Institute report said the Super Bowl generates an estimated $300 million to $500 million in overall economic activity for the host.

On Wednesday, though, it was all talk of collaboration, common benefit and prosperous businesses from Napa to Monterey.

“I’ve already turned the page on the Niners building the stadium here,” Lee said, referring to the team’s decision under former Mayor Gavin Newsom to abandon plans for a new stadium at San Francisco’s Hunters Point shipyard.

“I’m glad to see this going as well as it is,” Lee said as construction workers bustled about a stadium that’s on track to open for the 2014 NFL season. “It’s really a commitment to the economy of the whole region. ”

A bid committee led by Daniel Lurie, founder and CEO of the Tipping Point Community, has to submit the Bay Area’s draft bid April 1 to NFL staff. The bid will then be refined for about a month before being formally submitted. Then, the committee will make a presentation to NFL owners at their may May 21 meeting in Boston, with a decision expected that day.

The Bay Area is vying with the Miami metropolitan area to host Super Bowl L, the 50th iteration of the championship game. Whichever locale isn’t picked will compete with Houston to host Super Bowl LI in 2017.

Mayor Ed Lee and Lurie would give no details about the bid effort, saying secrecy was needed to prevent tipping their hand to the south Florida contingent. But they said it would be uniquely Bay Area.

“We’re a little bit different than some of the other folks,” York said. “When you look at what Northern California means, what’s important to Northern California, you’re talking about sustainability. You’re talking about technology. You’re talking about being at the cutting edge.”